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"id": 34947,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/34947/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
"speaker": {
"id": 129,
"legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
"slug": "james-orengo"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity also to contribute to this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support this Bill and congratulate the Minister for a job well done. The pace at which he has been preparing these Bills for debate I think is commendable. I would urge him to continue with the good work. But having said that, I think if we look at the contents and scheme of this Political Parties Bill, it is flowing from the Constitution to Kenya. This Constitution, in Article 91, provides the basic requirements for a political party. This is something very unusual because we do not have a constitution talking about political parties and how they should look like. Take any constitution anywhere in the world; you will never find a constitution going to great length, saying exactly what a political party should be and mentioning the basic ingredients of the political party and the qualifications and constitution that would enable you to become a political party. Then, it requires Parliament to legislate or enact a statute, which is now this Political Parties Bill, under Article 92. Again, what is required of Parliament to do in that particular Bill or that enactment is clearly spelt out in the Constitution. So, the first thing really, in considering this Bill, is to do a Constitutional evaluation and test as to whether or not what the Minister has brought before the House is in coherence and harmony with the Constitution. I think the Minister had a great challenge to come out with a document that responds to the provisions that are spelt out in the Constitution. I think that he has done quite well generally. But I am not saying that this Bill is cast in stone. Parliament can amend and I think the Minister has always been open to discussion and debate on anything that Parliament comes up with, which is constructive and positive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said this, I want to address the question as to why this has come out in the Constitution. It is because of the mischief of the past. It is the bad manners and behaviour of the past that have made the authors and framers of this Constitution to have particular provisions to deal with political parties. This is not just during the Independence period, but also during the colonial period. Some of the bad habits that existed during the colonial days were imbued lock, stock and barrel by the Governments that followed after 1963. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you will remember that before Independence, the last truly national party that did not take part in the 1963 General Election was the Kenya African Union (KAU). After KAU was banned, political leaders who wanted to participate in politics or organizations that were fighting for independence at the earlier stage were required to register regional parties, which were basically ethnic parties. Therefore, Jaramogi, Mboya, Muliro, Ngala and everybody else who came to this Parliament during the colonial parliament came from an ethnic base. That was the spirit of the day. After Independence - and my argument has always been that we have always killed political parties, whether as a colonial government or even subsequent governments--- When truly national political parties emerged after Independence, it was the Government of the day that killed them. It was either Governments or individual Members of Parliament. There are individual Members of Parliament who changed sides and even when they were enacting laws, they never thought that those laws would affect them. We should be conscious of the fact that there are people who are now talking about a new constitutional dispensation and this Bill. But before we address the mischief that this Constitution is dealing with--- Every day you read a Kenyan newspaper and you hear politicians talk, the bad manners of the colonial Government still live with us today. However much the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs tries to bring the proper laws and legislation – to have a tribunal and a court – as long as politicians live by the values of the past, this Constitution is not worth what it is written on and this Bill will not meet the challenges of the day. That is why this Constitution is telling us that we must have national parties with support from everywhere in the country. Every day when we talk in political rallies, we do not talk as if we are being guided by this Constitution. So, I think the great challenge is with us, as political leaders, to make sure that what happened to KADU--- And you remember for us who were in Parliament in 1992, you will recall that FORD(K), FORD(A) and DP were all destroyed in one way or another. KANU itself, was a party in name and truly not a political party. It is one of the greatest legislators in this House who, sitting as a Backbencher, and another one sitting where Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker is sitting--- I am referring to hon. Shikuku and hon. Seroney, when Shikuku said that KANU was dead. Of course, the sycophants stood up and asked the Member to substantiate that KANU was dead. So, hon. Seroney who was an extremely brilliant lawyer said: “You cannot substantiate the obvious.” Some of the people in the House did not actually understand what he was talking about. They just realized it out there and, instead of appreciating what he had said, they said that he had abused mama nababa . At the end of it, he had to go to detention. So, a political party is not truly a political party by its size. It is a political party by what it stands for, and the integrity and leadership within that political party. So, in the next elections, if we do not have political parties that will address people in terms of the problems of the day--- For instance, on the issue of devolution, some of us are not even prepared to say where we stand because that is a great principle of this Constitution. There are centralists who want the status quo to continue. They want the colonial governor to continue to live up the hill although he would be called another name. However, on that great debate, they would not want to address the issue of why devolution, as opposed to centralism, which is a mischief from the past and which has brought the “big man” syndrome and suffocated Kenyans politically--- I am glad that the young people in this country are now alive to what we are doing for them, and what they are doing for the country is important. But being in leadership, they are watching out and asking: “You leaders, what are you doing for us? What do you stand for?” When we stand up on any issue in political rallies - and I include myself in the sense that self criticism is important - how many times do we talk about jobs, employment, agriculture, culture and education so that, even when stories appear in the newspapers, they do not say that I called Kilonzo names? In Kenya, it is the names that you call the other politician that count. If you have a little fight, that is what counts. However, the ideas that we are fighting for and trying to struggle to bring some harmony into the country, even the media has no space for them because that has not been part of the business of the Kenyan politics. That is what this great Constitution is trying to address; the mischief of the past, how political parties have behaved. This Act should be seen in the sense that it is also trying to comply with the directions of the Constitution. We may find a lot of discomfort with some of the provisions, but when people hop from one party to another, or somebody stands up and says: “I am in ODM but I am now campaigning for another political party”, this is anarchy and nihilism in politics. It cannot work in a modern democracy. Political parties are the only way to build democracies. Other countries have tried. For example, sometimes back, Libya and Uganda had movement systems where there were no political parties. Political parties are an important part of governance. I dare say that we have three arms of Government but now, according to this Constitution, one can truly say that there is a fourth arm of Government because political parties are funded. They are the ones who produce political leaders. Even in the allocation of revenue, it is political parties which nominate. Therefore, political parties must wake up and live to the new Kenya. I thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}